Robbers - [joshler au]

Chapter 7.

Trigger Warning

//

Drug use; marijuana, cocaine.
Domestic violence.

Wait to start the song.

Before the next morning, Josh had a place to stay. He barely had enough time to finish his explanation on what had happened before Hayley told him to shut up and start moving his things in. Between the four of them already at Josh's, Hayley, Ashley and Dominic, it took less than a whole day to get all of Josh's things into one of the spare bedrooms at the Hayley's and the rest of his mother's things in storage. The house was almost heartbreakingly empty by the time the sun went down, and as his friends were putting the last piece of furniture in Dominic's Jeep, Josh stood in the center of the living room and took a deep breath.

He grew up in the house. This house was the only one he'd ever known. He'd taken his first steps near the fireplace, gotten his first bruise by falling on his face on the kitchen floor, had his height measured all the way up until he was sixteen carved into the door frame leading into the kitchen, and even had hand prints pressed in the concrete of the back porch. This was his home. Without his mom, though, he knew this would never be a home to him again. It's good that he's leaving.

"Josh," Tyler said gently as he walked into the vacant room with him, "are you ready to go?"

Josh took one more longing look around the room before grabbing the last backpack of his stuff and slinging it over his shoulder. "Yeah," he said softly, his voice breaking. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Tyler walked over to him and wrapped him in a tight hug before pressing a kiss to his lips and leading him out of the house. They locked the door behind them, Josh stuffing the house key into his backpack as they walked to the Jeep and climbed in the backseat, driving off toward his new home. They put the rest of Josh's mother's things in the storage unit before heading to Hayley's, and once they were there everyone stayed to help Josh decorate his new room. There wasn't even a chance that they were going to leave him alone in a time like this, and if they could at least make him smile once, then they were doing a good job.

Once they finished setting up the room, everyone except for Tyler and Josh left to go into the kitchen to order food for all of them. Josh sat on his bed, back against the wall and legs outstretched in front of him as he stared at the room. Tyler gently closed the door before climbing on the bed and sitting next to Josh, but far enough away for him to fall over and lay his head in Tyler's lap. Things were quiet for a moment, Tyler softly running his fingers through Josh's hair and humming softly before Josh said, "Everything's changing."

Tyler stopped humming but continued petting his hair as he spoke back to him. "Sorry?"

Josh sighed gently. "I knew," he started softly, "that once I graduated high school, things would be different. I'd move out, go to school, leave my job and get a new one, all the usual stuff. But, now, things are changing too fast, and not in the way they're supposed to. I lost my mom. I lost my home. I lost myself or a moment yesterday. I feel I don't even know who I am anymore. Everything is changing, and I haven't even been graduated from high school for two weeks. What's gonna happen to me?"

Tyler rested one of his hands on the side of Josh's face, delicately stroking his cheek bone with the pad of his thumb. "You're going to live," he whispered back airily. "Life threw you the hardest curve ball it could, but you have a choice. You can either swing and pray you hit it, or you can let it hit you. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for, Josh. I've been paying attention these last tow days. Anyone else I know would've just given up, but you're trying. And that means something. You may not realize it yet, but it means a lot."